EcoCent Limited, a waste recycling company in Kumasi, is partnering A Wealth of Women International, an NGO, to sensitize senior high students on waste segregation and proper waste management practices in schools.
The aim is to provide appropriate environmental education to the youth and encourage them to develop an interest in the lucrative waste recycling business, whiles also helping to reduce indiscriminate waste disposal and its negative impacts on the environment.
Ms Serwaah Gyawu, Co-Founder of EcoCent, who made this known, said the objective was to use the students as “proper waste management ambassadors” in their homes and communities, to support the government’s vision of making Ghana the cleanest country in Africa.
She was speaking at a students’ durbar held at the Kumasi Wesley Girls Senior High School (K-Wey Gey Hey), in Kumasi.
It was organized by The Bridget Kyeremanten Division-Ghana of A Wealth of Women International, through the “I count Project”, which is dedicated to providing leadership skills for girls in senior high schools.
Ms Gyawu said promoting waste recycling as a flourishing business enterprise was the surest way to draw peoples’ attention and attract investments, which would in turn, reduce indiscriminate waste disposal and its adverse outcomes in the Country.
She said recycling could be effectively done when there was a proper waste segregation culture in the Ghanaian society and urged the students to reduce waste by turning some of their waste, especially plastic ones, into useful products.
Dr Trinity Ama Tagbor of the Building and Road Research Institute (BRRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSRI), said plastic waste had become one of the major environmental challenges in Ghana.
She said out of the one million tonnes of plastic waste generated annually in Ghana, only two per cent was recycled.
The rest found its way into gutters, onto the streets and in the sea.
Dr Tagbor said continuous sensitization and awareness creation, especially among students, on the harmful effects of indiscriminate plastic waste disposal, would help address some of the challenges.
She commended the government for establishing the Ghana National Plastic Action Partnership and said it demonstrated the government’s commitment to work closely with all stakeholders to recycle plastic waste to reduce its harmful effect on the environment.
Mrs Rahel Asantewaa Ofori, a Senior Operations Officer of Zoomlion Ghana Limited, said the youth had a critical role to play in proper waste management efforts since the menace affected them directly.
She appealed to the students to serve as role models in their homes and community.
